Process of treating sugar-beets and the product derived therefrom.



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dirt stones, etc, after which the beets are" first topped cnonen nrnnnnn nnnaanrin, or new none, at. Y.

No Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Beieknown that l, GEORGE HILLARp BEN- JAMIN,- a citizen of the United States, residing at New York city, in the county and State of New York, have invented a certain new and Improved Process of Treating SugarBeets and the Product Derived Therefrom, of "which the. following is a specification.

My invention relates to a process of treating sugar beets for the production of a product which may be stored for any length of time, and subsequently treated for the extraction of the sugar content.

In the manufacture of beet sugar, the sugar beets after topping, are carried to the factories in tlie condition in which they are taken from the fields, where they are sliced,

or otherwise converted into cossettes and then treated in diffusion batteries for the extraction of the sugar. Owing to the fact that the beets cannot be preserved in the natural condition for any considerable length of time, the period during which beet sugar manufacture may be continued in operation, or otherwise, what is known as the length of the campaign, is very limited. Generally, the campaign does not exceed from three to four'months, which means the factories remain idle for from eight to nine months in the year.

The object of my invention is to so treat the beets at the farm, or in the vicinity where they are produced, that the resulting product length of time, and when the product is received at the factory, may be treated as is the case with fresh beets, and thus the campaign continued throughout the whole year. lit will be understood that by following my plan as above outlined, and as hereinafter more specifically described, very considerable saving in operation will result, the

amount of crystallizable sugar obtained will be increased, and all losses due to frozen beets, etc., will be avoided.

To carry my invention into efiect 1 proceed in the manner which T will now de- The beets. as taken from the fields, are

and then washed in any suitable apparatus for the purpose of removing any suitable machine,

dividedby means of usual size and thickinto cossettes of the Specification of Letters Patent.

will be capable of storage for any Patented Dec. T2, rare.

Application filed. December 17, 1914-. Serial No. 577,629.

ness. It will be understood, for reasons hereinafter set forth, that instead of dividing the beets into cossettes of the usual size and thickness, they may be shredded or otherwise divided into parts smaller than cossettes. After the division of the beets, they are introduced into any suitable dehydrating apparatus, such for instance, as

4 that described in my application for a patent, Serial No. 854:,598 filed Aug. 1st, 191a, and therein subjected to the action of large volumes of moving pure dehydrated air. The air is not necessarily dehydrated, although ll prefer that it should be, as by so doing the action in the dehydrating apparatus may be entirely independentv of the conditions of the atmosphere, so far as relates to moisture, and temperature, external to the apparatus. The temperature of the air and the length of time during which it may be applied, may be varied, as will be shown by the following examples:

Example T: The cossettes are placed in a dehydrater on trays, and therein subjected to moving air currents of 170 Fahrenheit for ninety minutes, this temperature and duration of application of the moving air currents being suficient to efiect the removal of the required amount of the contained water.

Example Ill: The cossettes are placed in a dehydrater on trays, and therein subjected to moving air currents of 90 Fahrenheit for thirty minutes; then tomoving air currents of 140 Fahrenheit for forty minutes; then to moving .air currents of 160 Fahrenheit for thirty minutes, these temperatures and durations of application of the moving air currents being sufficient to effect the removal ofthe required amount of the contained water.

- I wish it understood that the temperature and durations of application of the moving air currents may be varied in accordance with the condition of the beets, so far as relates to the percentage of contained water, volume of air currents transmitted, etc. The essential conditions to be observed, however, being, first, to efiect the removal of such proportion of the contained water that the balance of the water remaining will be sufiicient to maintain the cell walls of the beet cells in a condition to permit subsequent osmosis; and second, to efiect coagulation of the albuminous substances, and possibly or a part of the reserve food products carried by the sugar.

The following analysis will illustrate the effect of the process above described, and the characteristics of the product obtained:

cossettes, into crystallizable Analysis parts in 100.

' Fresh Dehydrated cossettes. cassette. l/Vater 78. 98% 10. 67% Polarization 14. 80%- 65.10%. Polarization on dry subf stances 70.41% 72. 87% Invert-sugar None. None.

The above analyses were made, that of of the fresh cossettes, by the method of hot aqueous digestion, consisting insubjecting the normal weight (or a proportionate amount of such normal weight) to the action of 177 cc. basic lead acetate solution (or a proportionate amount of this reagent) which contains 25' cc. of

basic lead acetate solution per'liter, in a closed beaker or. other vessel, to. a temperature of 7580 C. for thirty minutes, then cooling to 20 C., mixing well, filtering and polarizing the filtrate; that of the dried cossettes bya modified method of hot aqueous digestion, consisting in subjecting the normal weight (26.0 grams) of material (or a proportionate amount of such normal 'weight)- 'to the action of 184.8 00. basic lead acetate solution (or a proportionate amount of this reagent) which contains 25 cc. of basic lead acetate solution per liter, .in a closed beaker or other vessel, to a temperature of 75 80 O. for thirty minutes, then cooling to 20 (3., mixing well, filtering and polarizing the filtrate. The difference be- I tween 177 cc. basic lead acetate solution employed in treating fresh cossettes, and 184.8 cc. basic lead acetate solution employed in treating the dried cossettes, is due to the fact that the marc in the dehydrated cossettes has been increased four fold. v

The figures above given demonstrate thatthe water content of the cossettes has been reduced to a point (10.67%) sufliciently low to guard the cossettes against mold and des cay; that not only has no sugar been de-' stroyed, but that the polarization, held to represent crystallizable sugar, has been in-' creased by 2.46, i. 6-, 3.49%, and further,

that no invert sugar has been formed. The

characteristic features of as above described, may be First, the dried cossettes crystallizable sugar than stated-as follows: Wlll contain more was contained in ture of approximately by the dehydration (26.0 grams) of material obtained, 2'. e., a

the dry productv the fresh cossettes. Second, if the dried cossettes are placed in water having a tempera- Fahrenheit, they minutes or less, reabsorb water taken from them process, and be restored to their original appearance, thereby showing that the cell membranes have not been injured by the dehydration treatment.

y improved process and product results in the following important advantages:

(1) Owing to the fact that the colloidal substances in the divided beets, at least those of an albuminous nature, are changed in character, they will not, or at least not readily, pass through the cell membranes of will within thirty by endosmosis, the

the beet in diffusion, and a purer sugar solution is obtained.

(2) Owing to the fact that the divided beets contain about four times as much sugar per unit of Weight, than is the case with fresh cossettes, a very much more concentrated sugar solution is obtained by diffusion. 7 p

(3) Owing to the fact that'the sugar solution has greater density, very much less water must be removed from the said solution in the subsequent concentration, a. e., in the multiple effect. This means: (a) A very considerable saving in fuel (steam). (b) A very material saving in time. (c) A very materially decreased danger of loss of sugar by inversio (4) Owing to the fact that a purer juice is obtained by the process, the saccharate of lime which is formed as the next step in the manufacture of suga from the juice, is of a superior quality,,and will, on carbonatation, yield a purer carbonate of lime; and in the case where a very pure sugar solution is sugar solution free from colloidal substances, the carbonatation process may be entirely eliminated.

(5) Owing to the fact that thecolloidal matter, or at least the albuminous par t thereof, is retained in the divided prodvjct, in the process of diffusion, the value of the divided product as a cattlefood, is materially increased.

(6) Owing to the factthat in the process, suflicient water is removed from the divided product to prevent molding, decay and the .loss of sugar by inversion, the dry product nao'aeao to the factories from the field, will be reduced to at least one quarter of thepresent cost.

(8) Owing to the fact that the enzym present in the cossettes is rendered active by the treatment, all or a part of the reserve food products, 1'. 6., starch,-etc., are converted into crystallizable sugar, thus increasing the sugar yield.

in this specification, T have described the dried product, 2'. 6., the dried cossettes, as capable of storage for any length of time withoutdeterioration, and this is true, provided the dried product is protected against the absorption, by the product, of such an amount of water as is necessary to combine with the enzym or bacteria present in the product, to set up fermentation or produce mold. Many means may be used for this purpose, as for instance, storing the cossettes packed in bales in rooms where the percentage of moisture carried by the atmosphere dried product in bales and protecting them by an impervious coating, as for instance oiled paper; means also may be used to neutralize any acid reaction which may be noticed, as for instance, by the mixing with the beets-of calcium phosphate soluble in weak acid, or by sulfuring, care being taken to prevent using sufiicient sulfur to bring about inversion of the, sugar juice in the subsequent process of difiusion; treatment with formaldehyde and similar bodies may also be employed.

In this specification I have described the beets as divided into cossettes, shredded or otherwise separated into small parts or particles. It will be understood that the usual practice in dividing beets into cossettes is for the purpose of bringing the hosts into the best condition to be treated by the difiusion process, while at the same time mechanically destroying as few of the cell walls of the beets as possible; the object of the difi'usion process being to extract the crystallizable sugar and leave the colloidal substances within the cell structure.

In my process as above described, it is not so important to divide the beets into cossettes, and for the reason that the temperatures to which the divided beets are subjected in the dehydrating apparatus, efiect a coagulation of the albuminous and possibly other parts of the colloidal body, which may 'be readily separated from the crystallizable body by filtration or other known method.

It is the intent of my invention to divide the beets into as small particles as possible, and thus obtain rapid extraction of the sugar, without introducing into the sugar juices any considerable amount of colloidal substances which require separate processes foriseparation.

In the practice is malntained constant; packing the mitting osmosis V subsequently treated in the diffusion process.

then subjecting the tion of moving air of my invention, it have.

found that where the beets are properly divided and dehydrated, the contained sugar may be extracted very much more rapidly and perfectly than is the case with the present system of extraction using fresh beetswhich fact is probably due, (first) to the concentration of the sugar in the dried product, and (second) to the separation of the crystallizable and colloidal substances, thereby facilitating exosmosis of the crystallizable sugar through the cell membranes.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The process of treating sugar beets, which consists in first dividing the beets, then subjecting the divided beets to the action of moving air currents having a temperature sufficient to gradually extract the required percentage of water and to coagulate all coagulable materials, but insufficient to destroy the enzyms present or rupture the cell walls or render such walls incapable of permitting osmosis when the dried product is subsequently treated in the diffusion process. Y 1

2. The process of treating sugar beets, which consists in first dividing the beets, then subjecting the divided beets to the ac tion of moving air currents of large volume heated to a temperature sufficient to gradually extract approximately 90% of the normally contained water and to coagulate all coagulable materials, but insufficient to sterilize the cossettes or rupture the cell walls or render such walls incapable of permitting osmosis when the dried product is subsequently treated in the difi'usion process.

3. The process of treating sugar beets, which consists in first dividing the beets, then subjectingthe divided beets to the action of moving air currents having a temperature of approximately 170 Fahrenheit and continued sufficiently long to gradually extract approximately90% of thenormally contained water and to coagulate all coagulable materials and not to rupture the cell walls or render such walls incapable of perwhen the dried product is 4. The process of treating sugar beets, which consists in first dividing the beets,

divided beets to the accurrents of large volume heated to a-temperature to gradually extract 90% of the contained Water and to coagulate the coagulable materials, but insufiicient to rupture the cell Walls of the beets or destroy the enzyms present, and finally incorporating with the dried product, a material which will prevent fermentation or mold taking place in such dried product.

5. The process of treating sugar beets which consists in first dividing the beets, then extracting the required percentage of water, and simultaneously coagulating all sugar 1 constituents unaltered found in the beets in their fresh state, dried sugar beets capable Walls incapable of growth, which ,body to the action of a-temperature of given coagulable materials contained in the beets and without destroying the enzyms present or rupturing the cell walls or rendering such permitting osmosis when the dried product is subsequently treated in the diifusion process.

6. The method 'of increasing the crystallizable sugar in sugar bearing bodies of plant consists in subjecting the range, 71. e., between 90 and 160 and in the presence of suflicient moisture to develop the action of the enzyms present in the body, and thereby convertall or a part of the vreserve food products into sucrose.

7. As a new product, divided, dried sugar Fahrenheit,

beets, characterized by having the normal enzyms in an active coagulable; substance in a coagulated condltlon,

condition, all of the containing all the and said divided of endosmotically all of their origi- When subsequently absorblng. approximately nally contained water placed in warm water.'

8. As a new product, divided, dried sugar beets, characterized by having the normal enzyms in an active condition, their cell membranes in a state which will freely per- I mit, "when immersed in warm water, an exosmotic movement of the crystallizable substances (sugar) through the cell membranes,

carried by the beets.

but retard or prevent the movement through such cell membranes of the colloidal or c0- agulatedsubstances forming a part of the colloidal bodies.

9. As a new product, divided, dried sugar beets,,having all the normal enzyms in an active condition, their crystallizable substances in their original conditions, and the coagulable bodies forming a part of the colloidal substances in a coagulated condition, and the cell membranes in a condition to permit osmosis when the divided dried body is placed in warm water.

10. As a new product, divided dried sugar beets containing more crystallizable sugar than was originally contained in the fresh beets before treatment.

11. The process of treating sugar beets to increase the crystallizable sugar constituent thereof, which consists in first dividing- 

